Pleading With God
By Kenny McKinley
Psalm 43
Turn in your Bibles to Psalm 43 (read). When David wrote this he was in some trouble. Things weren’t going so well for him. Most Biblical scholars agree that this psalm was written when David was in hiding, while King Saul was trying to kill him. I’m sure that most of you know the story. Well it was during that time of David’s life that he wrote this psalm.
Now I don’t know why it is that some people think that once they come to Christ their lives will be a walk in the park. Christianity is not a bed of roses, and the Bible never promises that it will be. But thank God, when life gets tough, and it seems like its just one problem after another, just like David, we can go to our heavenly Father.
See in Psalm 43 David was praying, and his prayer in this particular Psalm was kind of like our prayers can be from time to time. He starts his prayer by saying, “God, I’m in a mess here. I need your help, and I need you. Deliver me.” But then in verse two David kind of gets off track. He starts to ask questions, “Why do you cast me off?” That is a classic example of a faith falter. We can all do it from time to time. David started out his prayer really good, “Deliver me, for you are the God of my strength…” but then his faith faltered. He took his eyes off of the Lord, and he was like, “Hey! God! Where are you anyway? I thought we were close. Why is this happening? Why are the wicked prospering? I thought I was the one who you anointed to be king? What’s the deal here?”
Now if you’ve never prayed that way before, then you’ve been blessed. But more than likely we have all prayed like this at least once in our lives. Or at least we’ve thought about it a time or two. You know the feeling. Lord I’m doing what I’m supposed to. I’m going to church faithfully, I’m reading my Bible, I’m tithing. Whats the deal? Why is this happening? I mean, I’ve been telling people how good you are, and they’re watching me Lord, so come on!
The problem is, that’s where a lot of our prayers end, with us complaining, but in verse three David got back on track. “Oh! Send out your light, and your truth.” That is illumination, that’s revelation. That’s the Word of God! “Let them lead me.” In other words, I don’t want to be tossed about by my circumstances any more. I don’t want to be controlled by my feelings or by all the bad situations I’m going through. Ephesians 4:14 tells us that if were being tossed about by every wind of doctrine then we are as children. In other words were immature in our faith. But God’s Word is constant. It’s unchanging, and when you know and believe what God’s Word says, then your circumstances and situations don’t matter. When you know that Jesus Christ, the Son of God shed His blood, and died for your sins and was raised for your justification then there is nothing that can come against you that can knock you off that rock. It’s like the song says, “My faith is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand, everything else is sinking sand.” Send your light and your truth.
Now look at verse four (read it). David started out this prayer good, then he had a faith falter, he then went back to a right prayer, but in verse four he messes it up again. He is saying, “God if you help me with this, if you just get me out of this mess, I’ll serve you with all my heart. I’ll praise you like I should, and do what’s right.” Basically David’s trying to play let’s make a deal with God. David said, “God if you’ll help me then I’ll praise you.” But it doesn’t work that way. Philippians 4 says, “rejoice in the Lord always.”
So in verse one to verse four of this prayer of David we can see that he is sort of flip flopping in and out of faith. He trusts in the Lord but then questions Him. He seeks Gods aid, but then tries to bargain with Him. But then something happened to David between verse four and verse five, because in verse five David is no longer blaming God, he is no longer questioning Him or trying to bargain with Him, but instead he looks at himself, and he realizes that his problem isn’t with God, it’s with himself.
David was so busy talking that it took him awhile before he heard what God had to say about it. Prayer isn’t a monologue; it’s a dialogue. Many times we don’t see results to our prayers because were to busy complaining and not actually praying. We give God a piece of our mind, but then don’t take the time to hear what He has to say on the subject. We tell Him about all of our problems but then refuse to listen to all of His solutions.
In verse five David realized that God wasn’t the problem, he was. Often times what we need is a change in our perspective. Every year our government spends billions of dollars on studies, trying to figure out why things are the way they are. They spend millions of dollars on why birds migrate during the winter. Millions of dollars on the mating habits of the honeybee. Millions of dollars on why there is road rage in California. But there is no amount of money that will make a difference until we first realize that the heart of the human problem is the problem with the human heart. The Bible tells us, “that the heart is deceitfully wicked above all else…” we have people who are looking to creation to give them peace, joy, and fulfillment, when they should be looking to the Creator!
The problem in the world today isn’t God, it’s man. We don’t need to raise the minimum wage, we don’t need work incentive programs, we don’t need self-help cults. We need Jesus! That’s the conclusion that David came to (read verse five). Basically David said, “Hey, what’s the deal here? So what if things aren’t going the way I planned. So what if I’m going through hell right now. Hope in God, and praise Him.”
Now some of you might say, “well that’s easy for you to say, but you don’t know what I’m going through right now.” And you would be right to say that. I don’t know exactly what you’re going through, but God does. Jesus Christ experienced every possible hardship, hurt, and struggle that mankind faces, so believe me when I say that God knows what your going through. And God not only knows what you’re going through, but He also cares about you, and He will help you through it. But it depends on where you’ve placed your hope that determines where you will end up after the storm is over.
Turn with me to Matthew chapter seven (read verse 24-27). You see, even the wise man had to go through the storm. It all depends on what foundation you’ve built on. It all depends on where your hope lies. Today it seems that we take so much for granted, and we only acknowledge God when it suits us. We never stop and think about what God has done for us. We never stop and think about what God has given us. Why do you have the home you live in? Why do you have the food you eat? Why do you have the clothes your wearing? Our heavenly Father, that’s why. He has provided us with the means so that we can work at our jobs, and do what we do. He has given us our health, and blessed us with our talents and abilities. And He even gave us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, so that we can have eternal life. Isn’t that amazing? God was under no obligation to do that. He doesn’t have to give us a thing, but He does.
Today there are many people who have misplaced their hope. They’ve placed it in the economy, the government, the military, their education, their jobs, or maybe their social status. But I’ve got news for them; all of those things are going to fail. Maybe not today or tomorrow, but eventually. You see without God there is no hope. But with God all things are possible. The Bible tells us that in Christ we are more than conquerors. Hope in God. That was David’s conclusion. He had tried to bargain with God, and was pleading his case, but then he stopped and realized that God loves him and that God was in control.
How often are we like David? How often do we try to rationalize our faults away, and try to put the blame on God? David was guilty of that and I have been to, but hopefully we can learn from the man after God’s own heart and follow his example. David didn’t stop with putting the blame on God, but he prayed through until he saw the real root of his problem, and the real answer to his problem.
So what about you? Have you placed your hope in God? Have you trusted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If not you can do so today. If you never have there is no reason you shouldn’t. Don’t put it off any longer. Come and surrender to Jesus today.
